Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-01-29

'one 81 the most illrstriuus character
# the times" Speaking Of this eAtraoi
mary longevity united to force an,
,Gtivity. Gibbon SAYS in q note, tina
there does not ,Nist another example
of a hero near Il hundred wears of age.
BEYOND II BIBLICAL LIMIT.
But while examples Of mental and
physical vigor retained beyond ninct,
IRE not, from the nature of things. To-
'e looked for, many examples occur OF
such yigor well retained up TO four
core years and beyond it. Familiar
Iamcs present themselves on every
.ide and in various walks in life. Hum
)oldt, the illustrious savant, died in
lis ninetieth year, retaining his intel
cctual activity to the last, his great
work, the Cosmos" being begun
after he was s~everty-four, and the last
volume of il published in 1853. a year
before he died. Leopold Won Ranke.
whose History of the Popcs" has made
him best known OH this side the sea,
ended his active labors only when his
life ended at ninety years. Won Moltk,,
the soul OF the Prussiau armies which
humblcd the power of France, was
seventy wear. old when the great vic
tories in the name of his King were
achieved, and for years afterward his
force continued undated. King Will
lam himself vet wiclds the scepter with
no crippled hand, though his years have
reached ci~ghty-nine. Our own history
bounds with examples of men adj
vanced far in years retaining freshness,
strength and elasticity still. Benjamin
franklin was seventy years old when be-
signed his name to the "Dcclaration,'
scventy-two when Minister with full
powers 70 France, and seventeenth,
when in 1885 ne returned home lndeI
with honors aud bencdictions. He died
It eighty-four, with faculties and af-
'cctions unimpaired." John Adams
vas ninety years old. and Jefferson
ighty-three when they died on tn,
ourth of July, 1896, their mental vigor,
he latter particularly, hardly, il at ell.
impaired. John Quincy Adams died a
lightly in the midst Of active and ener-
,etic services such as a man in tn,
iull maturity Of manhood might rcndrI
AS a member of the National Hous,
4 Representatives. John Marshails
aculties shown with undiminished lus-
,er ut four-scoro in the Chief-Justice's
,cat in the Supreme Court. which he haG
occupied for thirty-four years. ROger
B. Taney sat in the same seat till h,
was eighty-scven, and the reins of JUS
ice were firmly held till death relaxed
lis grasp. DR.. Eliphalet Mott in 1854
t the tifticth anniversary Of his pvcsi
!ency OF Union College, when eighty
ne years old, held an audince spell
DOund in an address OF more thar al
Iour's length, marked by the force RI,
much of the vivncity and cloquence thai
ais earlier manhood hal shown.
RIO VETERANS.
Among examples of this kind taken
rom men still on the stage there j,
Bancroft, the Ncstor of American his.
orians, Welding freely at eighty-fom
be fruits of an intellectual ACTIVITY
which seem to grow richer with years.
PRESIDENT Woolsey, at eighty-five, anC
Mark Hopkins, at eighty-four, speal
md write with the vigor Of earlier DAYS.
,howing slight, if any, signs of intel
lcctual decay. Coming down 10 q lowcI
decade, there are beyond the sea Glad
,tone Swuying ut scventy-seyen Parlia-
ments and popular assemblies witt
a force never more recognized thar
now, and John Bright. a year OF
two younger, producing even
grcatcr effects upon a popular
gathering by his magnetic speech. Tie
poet Holmes, lately rcaping goldel
opinions and well-won honors anon,
MS transatlantic cousins, wears hi
Seventy-seycn years aslightly as thougl
they were a gosSnmer robe, while Pres.
,dent McCosh seems to find the weight
Of seventy-six years no serious hin
france to Metaphysical study or t,
practical administration Of his impor-
tant trusts. Nor does the late Presidcn'
tiickok, in his quiet home at Amherst
ind his cighty-six years an effectua
bar TO the prosecution Of studies which
have placed his name in the forefront
Of the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of the age.
1t were easy to multiply examples of
this sort. Those given must suffice
even did space warrant II longer list.
A brief moral may be added. A man
at seventy should hardly be regarded
as etfctc, or valuelcss, or as superilu-
ously tagging Oh the stage, no longer
20 act a useful part. Judges are re-
tired at seventy. For five years beyond
this period, at least, the public might
safely expect to reap the choicest fruits
of judicial learning, wisdom and expe-
rience. The pulpit, through the fancy
If the pews, virtually ~retires its teachers
a dozen or So years earlier. This Is
>enseless and unjust, and an Injury t.
The people greater. perhaps, th4n t.
he preachers. The army and the
lavy retire their officers at from
ixty-two TO sixty-four. for physical
easons mainly, which seem TO Civ,
ufiicient warrant. A man at sixty.
through hardsnips, or disease, or ex-
'esses, may be incapacitated for active
" efficient service that requires phys
cal vigor and endurance to perform il
we'll. But there are callings not a few